One is Silver and the Other is Gold

There are many different kinds of friends out there.  There are friends who stick around for the long haul, and those who are only with you for a certain season.  Those you talk to all the time, and those you only catch up with once in a blue moon.  But they are all important, and I am grateful for them all.

I am grateful for the friends who are in the same phase of life that I am.  The ones whose babies are starting to turn into big kids.  The ones who understand and don’t judge.  For a mom who sometimes struggles to keep it all together, you are the best kinds of friends.

I am also grateful for the friends who have already been there and done that.  The ones who can show me how this is all going to play out. Seeing that they have survived and thrived lets me know that I will, too.

I am grateful for the friends who come over and bring wine.  Because wine.

I am grateful for the friends who understand when I disappear for a few weeks (or months), because life can get crazy.  I am especially grateful that these friends will still be there when I poke my head back up again.

I am grateful for the friends who were brought to me via my husband or my kids.  If my family loves you, surely I do, too.

I am grateful for the friends whose impending visit doesn’t cause a flurry of vacuuming and stuff-stashing.  You have seen me at my worst and did not run away.  So now you get what you get.  Which is dog hair and dirty dishes.  You are the absolute best kind of friend.

I am also grateful for the friends whose visit does cause a cleaning frenzy.  Because now my house is clean.  So thank you very much.  And take your shoes off please.

I am grateful for the friends who understand when I sneak out of their party early without saying goodnight.  Because sometimes I am just done.  Sometimes I have no more words left to say.

I am grateful for the friends who hang strong in our kitchen until the bitter end of our own impromptu party, and for those who run out to get more wine to keep the party going.  Because sometimes I don’t want to sneak out early.

I am grateful for the friends who love my kids. There are no better friends.

I am grateful for the friends who were with me in the trenches of my tumultuous 20s.  Who cried with me over things that made no sense at all.  Who witnessed escapades and breakups.  The ones who climbed over the fence with me (both figuratively and sometimes literally – don’t ask) and made it through the madness of young adulthood.

I am also grateful for the friends who knew me as a kid. Those folks who remember an earlier version of myself.  Somehow the fact that there are still people out there that remember these prior versions of me helps preserve all those old selves.  Many of these friends had faded from my life, only to be brought back by social media.  I love keeping up with their big events and dinner plates via my Facebook feed.  Honestly, I don’t talk to many of them in real life, but sometimes, for an introvert, those are the best kinds of friends.

So, whether you fit into one or six of these categories, thank you for being a friend.  (And if you are now singing the theme song from The Golden Girls, you are definitely my kind of friend.)  Cheers.